Moran dead at 67

Eclipse Award-winning turf writer Paul Moran died Saturday in Saratoga

Springs, New York at age 67 following a long battle with lung cancer.

A veteran reporter who covered horse racing since the 1970s, Moran was a

mainstay in the press boxes of New York Racing Association racetracks since

joining the staff of Newsday in 1985. That year, he won a media Eclipse Award

for a piece on Daily Racing Form columnist Joe Hirsch, and five years later, he

won another Eclipse for his story on Go for Wand's catastrophic injury during

the stretch run of the 1990 Breeders' Cup Distaff.  He also won a

Distinguished Deadline writing award from the National Association of Newspaper

Editors.

Moran, a president of the New York Turf Writers Association, retired from the

newspaper business in 2008, but stayed very active in horse racing reporting and

commentary, chiefly through a regular column on espn.com. He also dabbled in

ownership, owning several New York-breds that were trained by H. James Bond.

Known for his extremely artful prose, his keen opinions on racing issues of

the day, and a cutting wit, Moran was surrounded by several of his closest

friends and colleagues from the New York racing circuit at the time of his

death.

Final arrangements are pending.